From The Marginlands
by Prem & Arati
Latest episode
The State Sees Pipes; Our Rivers Have Other Ideas -- Parineeta…
The State Sees Pipes; Our Rivers Have Other Ideas -- Parineeta…
About this podcast
From The Marginlands with Prem and Arati takes unabashed deep-dives into uncomfortable environmental issues. We converse with carefully curated guests on the art of telling stories about the environment and on climate change as it manifests around the world.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 33 episodes
- The State Sees Pipes; Our Rivers Have Other Ideas -- Parineeta Dandekar on People, Poetry, Politics, & Paisa · 1 h 58 min · Season 2 Episode 12Parineeta Dandekar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) joins us to talk about what makes a river a river, and what happens when we treat it as plumbing…
- When The Fever Map Changes & Cures Stop Working: Talking Health & Climate with Ramanan Laxminarayan · 1 h 19 min · Season 2 Episode 11In this episode we talk to epidemiologist Ramanan Laxminarayan about what ails India's health. He makes the case that the biggest threat is the silent spread of noncommunicable…
- Oceans Are Absorbing Heat Equal To 12 Hiroshimas Every Second: Implications are HUGE · 2 h 12 min · Season 2 Episode 10In this wide-ranging conversation with Arati (Prem was out sick, sadly), Dr. Roxy Koll explains why climate change is no longer a distant, gradual phenomenon but an accelerating…
- Assam's Floods (once a boon) Are So Destructive Now - Why? Arupjyoti Saikia Explains · 1 h 48 min · Season 2 Episode 9Assam’s July floods were explained as a consequence of heavy rainfall. That is true, but incomplete. Historian Arupjyoti Saikia joins us to uncover the much longer history behind…
- When The World Is Connected But Our Planning Is Not · 1 h 3 min · Season 2 Episode 8Contact us: Email the Podcast Arati Kumar-Rao on Instagram Prem Panicker on X (Twitter) Prem on Substack From The Marginlands on Instagram
- We Know What Rom Whitaker Did That Summer (and now you will too!) · 2 h 19 min · Season 2 Episode 7Romulus Whitaker has spent close to seven decades following snakes into the larger worlds around them: forests and rivers, laboratories and hospitals, and the deep ecological…
- When Rains Fail, What Should The City Do? Vishwanath Suggests ... · 1 h 32 min · Season 2 Episode 6The 2026 monsoon is failing, the Cauvery catchment is running dry, and the reservoirs feeding Bengaluru are alarmingly low. So Arati Kumar-Rao and Prem Panicker call back the one…
- What Are The Real Risks To Our Health? We Ask Dr. Soumya Swaminathan · 1 h 27 min · Season 2 Episode 5Most people in health pick a lane — clinician, researcher, or policymaker. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan has been all three for forty years: a paediatrician who became a leading TB and…
- Why Care About the Environment? (When People Are Being Killed) -- Mahesh Rangarajan · 2 h 8 min · Season 2 Episode 4A young person once asked: why care about nature when people are dying in Gaza? Environmental historian Mahesh Rangarajan gives the long answer — why the choice between people…
- If A City Forgets Itself, What Lies Ahead? We Ask Harini Nagendra · 1 h 43 min · Season 2 Episode 3n this episode of From The Marginlands, Arati Kumar-Rao and Prem Panicker speak with ecologist and writer Harini Nagendra about the lost ecological memory of Bengaluru — a city…
- What is life like in the Sundarbans? Annu Jalais Weighs In · 1 h 54 min · Season 2 Episode 2In the second episode of Season 2 of From the Marginlands, Arati Kumar-Rao and Prem Panicker speak with environmental social anthropologist Annu Jalais, whose 27+ years of…
- Air, Water, Food, Health: Our Future In Whose Hands? · 1 h 54 min · Season 2 Episode 1Dia Mirza needs no introduction. And yet, the person who shows up in this conversation is not quite the one her public life has made familiar to us. Yes, she is the…
- Cheetahs, Tigers, People, & Forests: Raza Kazmi Walks Us Into India's History · 2 h 15 min · Season 1 Episode 20In this season-ending episode of From The Marginlands, Arati and I dive deep into Indian forests, not just as ecosystems but as archives of memory, power, and change. Our guide…
- WHAT IS IT LIKE FOR HUMANS & LEOPARDS TO SHARE LANDSCAPES? WE ASK VIDYA ATHREYA · 1 h 31 min · Season 1 Episode 19Leopards live far closer to us than most of us realise — not just in forests, but across farms, villages, and city edges. In this episode, Arati and Prem speak with Dr. Vidya…
- Do We Still Need Wildlife Films? Kalyan Varma Weighs In · 1 h 26 min · Season 1 Episode 18Award-winning filmmaker and photographer Kalyan Varma joins Arati and Prem on From the Marginlands to explore what it means to document the natural world today. From the ethics…
- What Are We Doing To The Mountains? Ft. Manshi Asher · 1 h 51 min · Season 1 Episode 17Each monsoon, the Himalayas make headlines for floods, landslides, and loss. But what if these aren’t “natural” disasters at all, but the result of choices we keep making? In…
- ICYMI! · 1 h 14 min · Season 1 Episode 16Prem & Arati look back at episodes, pulling out key issues from each. 10:14: Pranay Lal: • From The Marginlands Ep4 Ft PranayLal 16:46: S Vishwanath : • From The Marginlands E5…
- How Are The Ganga River Dolphins Doing? · 2 h 29 min · Season 1 Episode 15Nachiket Kelkar, Head of Riverine Ecosystems and Livelihoods at the Wildlife Conservation Trust, shares his experiences and insights on the Ganges River, particularly focusing on…
- So What Is Going On In Great Nicobar? · 1 h 38 min · Season 1 Episode 14This conversation delves into the Great Nicobar Project, a massive infrastructure initiative at the southern end of the Nicobar Islands, focusing on its economic viability…
- Ed Kashi & Julie Winokur: The Long Frame -- Stories That Outlast Time · 2 h 3 min · Season 1 Episode 13Photojournalist Ed Kashi and documentary filmmaker Julie Winokur have spent decades telling urgent, human stories — from climate injustice to ageing, migration, and forgotten…
